Pepper Grinder Review (PS5) – Prospects Of Gold

Pepper Grinder is a 2D platformer, a long-anticipated release for the Finger Guns team. Sean spoke excitedly about the game’s ingenious platforming mechanics, after getting hands-on a few years ago at an EGX. Whilst there are traditional platforming sensibilities, the game’s defining aspect is Pepper’s drill, making the player drill through the levels furiously.

This spurred my own excitement for the game too and since then, you may have seen Pepper Grinder on many of our listicles anticipating the release. Now, it’s out pretty much everywhere, after starting on PC and Switch and I’m glad the game will have a deservedly bigger audience.

Pepper Grinder is solo-developed by Ahr Ech, with XEECEE doing the music, making it almost as small as it can get in terms of development. I think it’s also important to mention, to add context to the game’s scope. It has a short playtime with around 20 or so levels to beat but what it achieves in that time is brilliant. So let’s dig around for the treasure in Pepper Grinder, shall we?

Going Underground

You play as the titular Pepper who’s been left shipwrecked and her treasures stolen by the evil Narlings. Left with only her drill (Grinder) by her side, she’ll exact revenge and reclaim her stolen treasure. Everything else is less so explicit and it more or less feels like set dressing to the levels. Short cutscenes between boss battles fill in some of the story’s gaps but it’s otherwise pure gameplay.

While the game’s narrative is minimal, the world created is anything but. Characters, levels, and enemy types are vibrant and varied, making the world feel interesting every step of the journey. If it wasn’t for the treacherous aqua horned trolls, the world of Pepper Grinder would be a pirate’s paradise. You’ll go from bright beaches to molten caverns and industrial compounds, all with great pixel art detail that feels so fun to dash through.

For the first couple of levels, you’ll learn the ropes of your drill, Grinder. You have your standard running around fixed to the analogue stick and the jump tied to the ‘X’ button but ‘R2’ will activate your drill. Levels consist of spots of land dotted around the screen that are a different colour to signify what you can drill through. It adds a bunch of verticality and almost a trials-like sense of platforming that’s quick to pick up but hard to master.

Deep Dive

Drilling through the ground makes it so you’re always accelerating forward. It takes a level or two to get the hang of the overall feel for the physics but once you familiarise how Grinder grinds, you’ll be doing just that effortlessly across the entirety of the level. It is the utmost appeal to Pepper Grinder and is uproarious amounts of fun from front to back, I couldn’t get enough.

As you progress through the game, you’ll learn techniques like boosting, grappling and swinging through levels. There isn’t a whole bunch of progression outside of that and I hoped it would advance a tiny bit more, but it settles on what you’re introduced to early on. Maybe it’s an attempt to hone in on making just a few things perfect as opposed to grand ideas that could fall flat, as Pepper Grinder offers a consistent flow of action with few components.

Getting through the level is just part of the addicting fun as there are also collectible gold coins, gemstones and more to collect whilst you’re blasting through the high octane lands. The gold coins are hidden through drillable land or hard-to-reach places that just add to the complexity of the level design. Both types of currency can be spent in the shops for stickers and outfits. Changing your hair or cloak adds to your own personality for sure, but I didn’t have much interest in the stickers/sticker pages outside of adding to my overall completion.

On The Grind

There is of course a decent variety of enemy types that litter the levels you drill through, creating more of that trials-like feeling I mentioned earlier. Enemies will have to be taken on differently depending on their abilities and it has mixed results. For some reason, some of the basic Narlings manage to hurt Pepper if you take them on head-on despite having a big old drill coming at them, but other than that it adds to that want for perfectionism.

Adding an extra incentive for that perfectionism is a Time Attack mode. It’s a cutthroat mode that requires no mistakes to get the Gold, as you’re going against a clock to achieve it. It quickly made my initial playthroughs feel like child’s play, as I would practice the levels a minimum of ten times before nailing the best reward. The rewards are more stickers, which I said before doesn’t interest me, but I really want to keep going till I get 100%.

Whilst the game front to back is short, there’s enough of a dangling carrot to keep people replaying. An initial playthrough can be 3-5 hours, maybe even less if you master the drill controls quickly but you can almost triple that with Time Attack mode. It’s a simple way of extending the playtime but Pepper Grinder isn’t trying to do anything but be a well-designed and intuitive 2D platformer. Some of the boss fights aren’t equally as exciting and inconsistent in their difficulty but they still add to the fun overall.

Struck Gold

Outside of its fantastic gameplay, everything visually and audibly is just great too. XEECEE has created a soundtrack that harkens back to the oddball 90s platformers with pulsating drum ‘n’ bass, twangy electronica and even some weirdo lo-fi thrown in. The pacing of the jams mixed with gameplay only adds to the overall great atmosphere of Pepper Grinder.

Couple that with some wonderful pixel art visuals and you’ve got a game that feels like a shock to the system from front to back. Ahr Ech has overall delivered a concise game that shows no signs of slowing down. While I do wish the game shot for some bigger ideas in terms of its gameplay, Pepper Grinder knows its own lane perfectly and executes near-flawlessly.

I’m hoping we see more from Ahr Ech and Pepper Grinder because the sky is the limit for this drill-driven platforming game of adrenaline. If you’re a fan of platformers you owe it to yourself to take up the Grinder because you’ll definitely find gold.

Pepper Grinder is a short but near-flawless 2D platformer that’s a thrill ride from start to finish. From the sparkling pixel art visuals to its ingenious drilling gameplay, the game is a must-play for any platforming fan.

Pepper Grinder is available now on PlayStation 5 (review platform), PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.

Developer: Ahr Ech
Publisher: Devolver Digital

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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